Family System as a Determinant of Fertility in Traditional Korea

Abstract

In Korea, there has been, since the early 1970s, a rising concern shown in researching the impact of the family system upon fertility (e.g., Lee, H. Y., 1971; Chung et al., 1972; Kim & Shah, 1979; Kwon, 1982). As in the case of the earlier attempts to study this problem in other countries, such studies have tried to relate familial factors to the level of fertility without giving any attention to circumstantial factors involved in reproduction, and the outcome was rarely satisfactory. The major factors chosen to represent the important aspects of the traditional family system of Korea include the type of family composition, perceptual and behavioural commitments in the pivotal traditional family norms, and the husband's birth order among his brothers.